It takes a moment for the eyes to adjust. A faint spark appears in the darkness; then another, brighter one. Soon, stars, planets and entire constellations emerge. Before long, a whole galaxy stretches across the sky, visible to the naked eye.
The Sombrero galaxy and its glowing halo of stars have never looked this good. The latest photo of the popular hat-shaped galaxy was released on Friday. A telescope in Chile observed the popular galaxy four years ago, but the color imaging was not completed until this week. Located 30 million light-years away, this spiral galaxy is one of the largest in the constellation Virgo cluster. It's formally known as Messier 104 and is an estimated 50,000 light-years across. Astronomers discovered the galaxy back in the 1700s.
Apollo astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt knows what the Artemis II crew was feeling when it rocketed into space earlier this month for a historic lunar flyby. Pure excitement and the potential for so much more. Schmitt is one of the four people still alive who walked on the moon during the Apollo missions more than 50 years ago. As the first scientist to set foot there, he spent three days with fellow astronaut Eugene Cernan collecting rock and soil samples. Schmitt, now 90, spoke to The Associated Press about the importance of having a lunar base, the potential for tapping isotopes on the moon for energy production and whether we're alone in the universe.
A new study suggests that the comet that rambled past us from another star last year likely originated in a cold, isolated corner of the galaxy that had yet to gel into its own solar system. Astronomers reported the findings Thursday. Comet 3I/Atlas is only the third interstellar visitor to be confirmed and quite possibly the oldest. Discovered last summer, it's now well past Jupiter on its way out of our solar system for good. A team led by the University of Michigan used an observatory in Chile to study the comet last fall. Findings were published in Nature Astronomy.
The Artemis II astronauts who ignited a lunar renaissance are giving high marks to their moonship for its performance during reentry — especially the heat shield.
Scientists for the first time have measured the instantaneous mind-blowing power of jets blasting from a black hole. The international team reported Thursday that the jet power from Cygnus 1-X, a relatively close black hole-star system, is equivalent to 10,000 suns. And the jet speed is roughly half the speed of light. Cygnus X-1 features not only a black hole but a blue supergiant star, its constant companion. This binary system is located in our Milky Way’s Cygnus, or swan, constellation. The findings appear in the journal Nature Astronomy.
With NASA's lunar comeback a galactic-sized smash, the space agency already has the next Artemis flight in its sights.
Artemis II's moon-traveling astronauts are back home and feted to a thunderous welcome. Still marveling over their record-breaking lunar fly-around, the crew of four flew to Houston's Ellington Field from San Diego on Saturday afternoon. After a quick reunion with their families, the astronauts took the stage, surrounded by hundreds who took part in NASA's historic lunar comeback. The three Americans and one Canadian splashed down in the Pacific on Friday. During their nearly 10-day mission, they voyaged deeper into space than the Apollo explorers decades ago and captured views of the lunar far side never witnessed before by human eyes.
The Artemis II astronauts are back on Earth. The three Americans and one Canadian returned with a dramatic splashdown Friday evening, as their…
Artemis II’s astronauts closed out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century with a Pacific splashdown on Friday, blazing new records near the moon with grace and joy.